TAXES

Rich People in New York This Weekend

New York is seeing how much dough it can squeeze out of millionaires’ paychecks without pushing them to Fisher Island.  

This week, state lawmakers passed a budget that raises the personal income tax on individuals making over $1 million and introduces two new brackets for those making more than $5 million and $25 million.

• The changes mean that the wealthiest New York City residents will face the highest combined local and state personal income rate in the country, surpassing California.

That’s not a record some New Yorkers want to break

250 business executives have sent a letter to state lawmakers arguing that higher taxes would “jeopardize New York’s recovery from the economic crisis inflicted by Covid-19” by sending high-net-worth people fleeing. 

• The top 1% of New Yorkers paid $4.9 billion in local income taxes in 2018, accounting for 42.5% of the income tax collected by the city.

Meanwhile, just three hours south on a JetBlue flight, Miami’s Tweeter-in-Chief Mayor Francis Suarez is welcoming New York’s wealthy with the promise of zero state income taxes and a Carbone reservation. Firms such as Silver Lake and Blackstone have already started beefing up their presence in FL.

Which makes many NYC leaders, including mayoral candidates Andrew Yang and Ray McGuire, anxious that the tax hike could lead to a 1970s-esque corporate exodus, when the city lost half its Fortune 500 companies. 

Proponents say it’s now or never 

Armed with census data showing that NY has the greatest economic inequality of any state, advocates of the tax hike argue the rich should pay more to fund basic public services that can help turn the state’s pandemic-stricken economy around. New York’s recovery is lagging behind the rest of the country, posting the second-highest unemployment rate of any state in February. 

Looking ahead...the tax fight serves as the backdrop for what the FT calls “one of the most consequential” mayoral races in the city’s history. The Democratic primary, which in this liberal stronghold will likely determine the race, is in June. 

COVID

Vaccine Tracker

In the US…20% of Americans are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and a third of the population has received at least one dose, per the CDC. The US is averaging about 3 million shots per day.

Around the world…40% of total Covid-19 vaccines have gone to 27 wealthy countries that make up 11% of the world population. Only 1.6% have gone to the least-wealthy 11% of countries, according to Bloomberg. 

• One place that’s fully reopened after most of its population got vaccinated? The tiny British territory of Gibraltar.

More headlines

Supply chained: Johnson & Johnson vaccine deliveries are expected to drop more than 80% next week as the company copes with manufacturing hiccups.  

Once vaccinated, twice shy: Some US health experts are arguing second doses should be delayed for the already-jabbed and instead redirected to people who have yet to receive their first. 

Would be lit: Pfizer-BioNTech became the first vaccine makers to ask the FDA to expand emergency use authorization to adolescents aged 12–15. 

OBITUARY

Legendary Rapper DMX and Prince Philip Died Yesterday

We lost two public figures yesterday: DMX and Prince Philip. While their work and platforms couldn’t have been more different, both made contributions that spurred emotional messages of remembrance on social media.

DMX. Earl Simmons’s family announced yesterday that he had died at age 50 after a serious heart attack following a reported drug overdose. Fans gravitated toward his intense lyrics, where he opened up about his struggles with addiction and his difficult childhood. Simmons released his first two albums in 1998, both hitting No. 1 and going multi-platinum. He was regarded as one of the biggest hip hop stars in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, was the longest-serving royal spouse in British history. He was 99 when he died yesterday at Windsor Castle. Philip took his role seriously and tried to modernize the royal family, but often made headlines for controversial, racist comments. By our standards, Prince Philip sending his children to school and cooking his own breakfast might not seem like a big deal, but everything is relative inside a palace.

SPONSORED BY BOMBAY

It’s Not Just Gin

You wouldn’t say Moroccan cubeb berries are just berries, or that West African Grains of Paradise are just plain old grains.

So you simply would not say Bombay Sapphire is just gin. 

When it comes to botanicals, Bombay means business. Need proof? They have someone who literally bears the title, Master of Botanicals. 

Not only is that the greatest resume mic drop you’ve ever heard, but this person gets to travel around the world to find the brightest and most vibrant botanicals from growers themselves.

All 10 of Bombay’s botanical ingredients are on track to be certified sustainable in 2021. That’s a win for farmers—and a big win for what’s in your glass.

In fact, Bombay considers these botanicals so precious, they utilize a vapor infusion process to delicately extract the flavors and aromas.

At the end of the day, it’s not just ingredients, it’s not just a G&T, and it’s not just gin.

It’s Bombay.

BUDGET

Biden Wants a Blank Check for Next Year’s Budget

President Biden released a $1.52 trillion fiscal 2022 budget request to Congress yesterday, and he’s asking for an 8% increase to fund the climate fight, the IRS, and other social programs.

The earth is getting a makeover. The plan calls for $14 billion for domestic climate programs and investments in clean energy, such as buying electric vehicles for the USPS. It wouldn’t hurt to throw in a couple extra mil for some design help...

You gotta spend money to make money. Biden wants to give the IRS $900 million to ramp up audits and recoup an extra $175 billion of lost taxes from the estimated 21% of income some of the wealthiest households don’t report.

Other highlights:

• $3 billion for immigration—an issue Biden recently was criticized for and handed over to VP Kamala Harris
• $2.7 billion for Amtrak, with most of that going to pay for better delay excuses
• 23% increase in health spending and a record 40% increase for education

Bottom line: Biden will have trouble passing this proposed budget because of a 1.7% increase to defense spending that already has GOP lawmakers grumbling.

GRAB BAG

Key Performance Indicators

Stat: More money has been poured into stock-based funds in the last five months than in the previous 12 years combined, per Bank of America. Stock valuations are at their highest level since the dotcom era of the late 1990s. 

Quote: “Never become so involved with something that it blinds you / Never forget where you from someone will remind you”

—DMX

Read: Is horse racing still too big to fail? (Defector)

TECH

Elon Musk’s Zootopian Technology

Elon Musk’s Neuralink is taking “monkey see, monkey do” to another level. Yesterday, the neurotech company released a video that claims to show a monkey controlling a game via chips implanted in his brain. 

Here’s the play-by-play: 

1. The monkey (ironically named Pager) moves his joystick to play the Pong game displayed on the screen.
2. The Neuralink device analyzes Pager’s movements and begins to predict them.
3. The joystick is disconnected, but Neuralink continues to accurately predict Pager’s movements. 

For Pager, the feat meant a well-deserved banana. For humanity, Elon Musk explained on Twitter the technology could “enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs.” 

Stay skeptical, San Diego

Musk later tweeted, “Soon our monkey will be on twitch & discord haha,” and the video lacks any peer reviews from the scientific community. But this kind of neural mind control does have precedent: A paralyzed man once controlled a robot arm in order to drink beer. 

Looking ahead...Neuralink has grand ambitions that go beyond enabling people to play Pong while wrist-deep in two bags of Cheetos. Musk tweeted that later versions of this device could enable paraplegics to walk again.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Amazon workers at an Alabama facility voted against forming a union, a blow to labor organizing around the country. 
• Boeing asked airlines to ground some of its 737 Max jets over a power system issue. 
• Kim Kardashian West’s shapewear company, Skims, is now worth $1.6 billion after a new fundraising round.
• Lee Delaney, the CEO of BJ's Wholesale Club, died unexpectedly on Thursday at 49.
• The Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing filed confidentially for an IPO in the US, per Bloomberg. It could be valued at up to $100 billion.

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BREW'S BETS

Tomatometer, broken: The movies with the greatest difference between audience and critic ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Weekend conversation starters:

• Your bookcase is only allowed to have five books. What are they?
• What’s a bottom-tier fruit, and why is it apples?
• Brag about the most complicated Excel formula you’ve made.

GAMES

Brew Crossword

Because they were such a hit, today we're bringing back the Morning Brew Minis. Take your pick of bite-sized crossword puzzles, or play all three:

Easy

Medium

Hard

**A Note From Bombay Sapphire

Enjoy responsibly. ©2021. BOMBAY SAPPHIRE AND ITS TRADE DRESS ARE TRADEMARKS. IMPORTED BY THE BOMBAY SPIRITS COMPANY U.S.A., CORAL GABLES, FL. GIN – 47% ALC. BY VOL.